April 6, 2012

The most significant name in the free agent field following
the 1992 season, 31-year-old DE Reggie White concluded a 37-day tour of
interested NFL suitors on April 6, 1993 by agreeing to a contract with the Green Bay Packers – the
NFL’s smallest market and one that even White admitted he had not considered to
be a good fit at the beginning of the process.

To be sure, many other teams had shown interest in White,
most notably the Redskins, 49ers, Jets, and Browns. The Packers signed him for
four years at $17 million, with $9 million guaranteed in the first year (half
salary and half signing bonus).

“A lot of people will
say I went for the money and money does play a part of it,” said White. The
ordained minister expressed an interest in using his wealth to invest in inner
city programs.

The 6’5”, 290-pound White, aka The Minister of Defense, had
come out of Tennessee
and played his first two pro seasons with the Memphis Showboats of the USFL.
The Philadelphia Eagles selected him in the first round of the 1984
supplemental NFL draft, and thus gained his services in ’85 following the
demise of the spring league. Joining the Eagles late, White made an immediate
impression by recording 13 sacks in as many games.

White remained with Philadelphia
for eight seasons and established himself as an elite player, formidable
against both the run and the pass. He recorded 124 sacks in 121 regular season games
with the Eagles, was selected to seven straight Pro Bowls through ’92 and was a
consensus first-team All-Pro for six consecutive years. He nearly set a new
single-season record for sacks during the strike-shortened 1987 season with 21,
and again led the NFL with 18 in ’88.

Moreover, White was not only an immensely talented player
but a natural leader on the team, and highly popular with the fans. During the
coaching reign of the brash, defense-oriented Buddy Ryan from 1986 to ’90, the
star end became the cornerstone of an aggressive defense that was one of the
best in the NFL, culminating in a 1991 season in which the Eagles led the
league not only in total defense, but were best against both the run and the
pass.

By that point Ryan was gone, having clashed with team owner
Norman Braman, and not helped by his failing to win any postseason games (they
qualified three times). White became a vocal critic of the front office by his
last year with the team, and the Eagles made no serious effort to retain him
once he became a free agent.

Green Bay,
meanwhile, had been in the doldrums for an extended period. Since Vince
Lombardi stepped down as head coach following a third consecutive NFL title in
1967, the Packers had made it to the postseason just twice in 25 years, the
last time in 1982. Prior to ’92, they had recorded only one winning season in
the past six. However, that situation was beginning to change with the coming
of a new head coach in 1992, Mike Holmgren. A new starting quarterback, Brett
Favre, also began to show promise, and after getting off to a 3-6 start, the
Packers won six of their last seven games to finish at 9-7, just missing the
playoffs.

If the Eagles were beginning to look shaky, Green Bay seemed to be moving in the right
direction, as White acknowledged. He liked what Holmgren was doing to build the
team up, the manner in which defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes directed his
unit, and the organization’s apparent commitment to winning and providing
improved facilities. A bonus was that the Packers played on a grass field, a
big improvement after the notoriously poor artificial surface at Philadelphia’s Veterans
Stadium.

One area of weakness for the Packers in ‘92 had been the
pass rush as the club ranked 21st in the NFL with 34 sacks. While LB
Tony Bennett had a healthy 13.5 to lead the club, the best total among the
linemen was four by DE Matt Brock. White offered a significant upgrade and
another newcomer, NT Bill Maas, was also added as a free agent.

“I think we can now compete for the division title and
that's what we're in this for,” said Green Bay GM Ron Wolf. “With Reggie now,
we are going to be considered a serious contender.”

The team did continue to move forward in 1993, again going
9-7 but qualifying for the postseason as a wild card entry. White recorded 13
sacks, becoming the first Green Bay defensive lineman to make it to double
digits in that category since DE Ezra Johnson in 1983 (15.5).

While there had been whispers when the Packers acquired
White that he was on the downside of his career, and he seemed to wear down
during the second half of the ’93 season, that talk ended as he continued to
play at a high level during the remainder of his career in Green Bay, which lasted for six seasons. He accumulated
68.5 sacks with the Packers and was still an annual Pro Bowl selectee (he ended
up being chosen 13 straight times). Moreover, he continued to be a team leader
and helped to improve the overall play of the defense. The Packers reached the
postseason in every year that the Minister of Defense was with the team, and in
1996 they won their first NFL Championship since the Lombardi era.

White retired from the Packers following a 1998 season in
which he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press – a
tribute to his continuing ability at age 37, even if he was no longer as consistently
dominating. He came out of retirement to play one last season in 2000 with the
Carolina Panthers and then left for good with 198 career NFL sacks, in addition
to 23.5 in the USFL. White was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in
2006 – sadly, almost two years after his sudden death on Dec. 26, 2004 from
respiratory failure.